Eric LeGrand attracting national attention

Donald "Big Dog" Forbes

02/21/2007

Eric LeGrand is among the best junior players in the Northeast region. His speed, size, and power has many of the top programs in the nation visiting Colonia H.S in pursuit of his services. Take a look at what LeGrand has to say about his ever growing list of suitors...

The 2007 New Jersey recruiting class has one of the best group of skilled players
in a number of years. Among the best players in this group is Colonia linebacker
Eric LeGrand. LeGrand is an old style MLB, who plays a physical style of defense
coupled with the speed to run from sideline to sideline. His speed is a great
compliment to his power which is evident by his 430lbs bench press and 660lbs
squat.

As a junior, he registered over 150 tackles along with rushing for 807 yards
and 8 touchdowns. For his efforts, he was named third-team All-State team and
received a number of other honors. His abilities have enabled him to garner
scholarship offers from Rutgers and Virginia along with heavy interest from
schools from across the nation. Some of these schools include Notre Dame, USC,
Rutgers, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, and Boston College.

Due to the number of schools that have been expressing heavy interest, LeGrand
has setup a number of unofficial visits to schools to get a better feel for
the schools. Two weeks ago, he attended the Rutgers Junior Day. He will be visiting
Virginia (February 24), Maryland (February 25), Notre Dame (March 2), and North
Carolina (March 24). During the summer, he plans on visiting the campus of the
University of Florida along with attending the camps of selected schools.

As far as factors for making a decision, LeGrand is focusing on education,
work ethic, and the program's stability. Regarding Education, he would like
to major in communications.As a result, he is looking for a school with a good
communications program. After his football career is over, he would like to
be an ESPN analyst.

For LeGrand, he is looking to see how hard the team works. As LeGrand states,
"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard". So the work
ethic of a team is important.

His third factor is the stability of the coaching staff. It is important for
the coaching staff of his selected school to be there until he graduates.

LeGrand has the following to say about his favorites:

Notre Dame - "They are very high on my list. I can not wait to see the
campus and meet the rest of the coaching staff. I have already met Coach Weis,
who has come to my school to see me. It was great to see him come to my school
because he only sees the top prospects".

USC - "They have started to talk to my coach recently. They have asked
for a lot of film".

Rutgers - "I love it there, I love the staff and love the campus. It might
effect my decision because it is so close and my family and friends will have
a chance to see me play".

Florida - "I can not wait to go down there in the summer to see the campus".

UVa - "I was there when I was a freshmen. But I really do not remember
it too clearly. They have a new recruiting coach and I'm looking forward to
meeting him".

These programs along with his many suitors will need to wait for a decision.
Like many of today's elite prospects, LeGrande would like to make a decision
either on signing day or during the Army All-American game.